Wade Meckler came back to the Angels on Friday and immediately reminded everyone why his bat had been so dangerous before a helmet shot sent him into concussion protocols.
In his first Major League at-bat in nearly two weeks against the Phillies, Meckler shot a single up the middle to bring in Zach Neto and give the Angels a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. He said the goal was simple after the layoff: “Extended time off, wanted to get an early swing off and feel where my barrel was at and feel solid contact,” Meckler said. “First pitch is over the plate, so just a good swing on it.”
That hit was part of a fast opening burst for the Angels, who scored three times in the first inning with the help of two wild pitches. After that, though, the offense shut down. Los Angeles finished with just three runs and three hits, another example of the lineup starting hot and then going quiet.
“That was tough. We had a chance there in the beginning of the game...
We had a chance to keep adding on. Obviously we didn't,” Suzuki said.”
For most of the night, that early cushion held up because Reid Detmers kept the Phillies under control. He worked six innings again, allowing one earned run on eight hits without a walk. Detmers said the strikeout total was lower than usual because Philadelphia was willing to bunt against him.
The Phillies’ lone run off Detmers came in the fifth on a bunt from Derek Hill up the first-base line. Detmers and first baseman Vaughn Grissom both charged the ball, leaving first base open and allowing Hill to reach safely while Alec Bohm scored to cut the Angels’ lead to 3-1.
“It’s just a hard situation there... Griss [Grissom] wants to come in and I understand why he's coming in," Detmers said.
"I kind of talked to him after; I was like, 'the only we had is if you stay on the bag and I flipped it to you....' It is what it is."
Even with that run, Detmers’ night still counted as a strong one. The scoreless streak he had carried into the outing ended at 20 innings, the longest of his career and the second-longest by an Angels pitcher this season behind Jose Soriano’s 25.1 scoreless innings.
Then came the ninth, and everything unraveled.
Ben Joyce entered with the lead and the game in reach, but his command disappeared. He walked two batters and hit another, and he had already thrown a wild pitch before the bases were loaded with one out. Bryson Stott then sent a ball deep enough that it looked like the Phillies might take the lead right there - until Meckler took over.
Meckler ran the drive down at the warning track, climbed the wall, and nearly flipped over it while making the catch. It was the kind of play that can swing a game all by itself, and Joyce noticed it too.
“It was an incredible play. It's awesome.
The guys behind you make a play like that, you want to do something back. It sucks to walk the next guy and obviously end the way it did.”
But the save chance didn’t survive. Suzuki removed Joyce after 26 pitches, saying the move was to “protect him,” and Sammy Peralta came in with two outs to try to finish it.
Instead, Edmundo Sosa crushed a pinch-hit grand slam - the first of his career and the first two-out, go-ahead grand slam for the Phillies since Shane Victorino in 2009 - to put Philadelphia ahead 5-3.
That was the knockout. The Angels went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth and fell for the fifth straight time, their 11th loss this season when leading after the eighth inning.
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For a rotation that is always under the microscope, Rodriguezs recent stretch changes the conversation from short-term survival to longer-term fit. The injury recovery remains part of the backdrop, but if this version of him holds, the Angels suddenly have a much more interesting decision to make about how he fits into their future plans and how high he belongs on their starting-pitching board. [Read more 🡒]